In a recent interview, social critic Gore Vidal opined that he had no idea what sort of hope Barack Obama indulges in, except perhaps hope of getting elected.
Mr. Obama says he has retained the best of his mother, but there is plenty of evidence that he has also retained some of the character of his father. Obama’s father was a man of charisma, but seemed to have little substance. Obama Sr. could woo a crowd and impress them with his charisma, and no doubt that is how he won Barack’s mother. But the charisma did not stretch too far when substantive issues were on the line, and Mrs. Obama saw fit to abort the marriage and abandon the charisma in order to face the realities of her life.
Barack Obama no doubt has charisma. His followers have been described as having a Messianic complex. Obama speaks of a new type of politics, but he uses the strategy of old-school politics — don’t get too specific, offer a lot in order to get elected and who knows what might happen afterwards.
Barack Obama seems to appeal most to the Millennial Generation of kids with high self-esteem and low self-expectations. These are people who grew up with a lot, who think the world is under control and will overlook their meager skill sets as long as they think positively, and who have little experience to avoid being manipulated by hucksters.
Barack Obama is all about hype, not hope. He does not want to go into detail about what he believes because the cupboards are bare. He believes in the U.S. Empire and in capitalism, from which he gets his election funding. He is against the war in Iraq because it is not successful, but fails to understand that the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan are both resource wars against newly proclaimed enemies who were considered friends until the sharing of resources was not to the liking of the capitalists of Empire. Barack Obama does not reject resource wars for Empire and if the U.S. had gained quick, easy control of Iraq and its oil, he would be scrambling to get his piece of the pie for his constituents.
Barack Obama is a pawn of empire pretending to be a beacon of hope. He believes in Big Government, which automatically becomes Big Brother. Barack has not opposed Big Brother, the imposition of the Police State.
Barack Obama does not even stand up for what he stands for. He knows that many blacks are bitter and so are some whites, but he dares not stand by his own words to that effect. When the subject of American bitterness becomes a political hot potato, he tosses the potato back to the bitter with apologies for bringing it up, even though he was right in the first place.
Barack Obama is more like Condi Rice than like Martin Luther King. He is a part of the System, not a reformer of it.
Anyone who votes for Barack Obama because of the hype will regret it when the reality comes through. Michael Moore admitted the likelihood when he admitted that he was more about Obama the Movement than Obama the candidate. Well, Obama the Movement is hype and flash and more like a bowell movement than a political one — it will abruptly and quickly be passed down the sewer when the timing is right.
Fortunately, Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez are running for president and they are what Barack Obama is not. They offer hope in place of hype. If you like hope instead of flash and hype, there is a choice available for President of the US.
